Just a few short years ago, Funcom's Joel Bylos was in charge of level 20 through 40 of Age of Conan, a massively multiplayer online game that was, at launch, widely criticized for a lack of quality content past level 20. Now he's the creative director in charge of Age of Conan, Anarchy Online and The Secret World, and his goal is to make unhappy players at any experience level a thing of the past.

Earlier this week I spoke to Bylos about his newly-announced role at Funcom, the Norwegian developer that's been very good to the Australian transplant. He was lead designer on the Age of Conan "Rise of the Godslayer" expansion. Then he served as lead content designer for paranormal MMO The Secret World, where he was responsible for some of that game's most innovative and exciting content, including the tough-as-nails investigation missions, which required players to actually do research outside of the game.

In September of last year, Bylos was elevated to the position of game director of The Secret World, helping transition the troubled subscription-based game into a more sustainable free-to-play (after game purchase) model. He also proved he wasn't afraid to poke fun at himself, via a series of "End of Days" video logs that cast him as a paranoid nutjob.

Late last month, Funcom announced Bylos' newest role — creative director of the company's new centralized live team, a single entity responsible for overseeing development of three very different massively multiplayer online games. Now that former creative director Ragnar Tørnquist has gone off to work on his dream project — the Kickstarter-funded Dreamfall Chapters — Bylos is the man in charge.

So what's he going to do?

The Beautifying of Anarchy Online

I was saddened to learn that, of Funcom's three major MMOs, Anarchy Online is the one Bylos has played the least. When I realized he wouldn't get any of my Leet jokes, I nearly scrapped our interview altogether. But I soldiered on, just as Funcom did when Anarchy Online's 2001 launch was heralded as the worse MMO launch of all time. We're talking SimCity-level issues here. Servers didn't work, registration didn't work, and billing didn't work.

Funcom spent six months fixing Anarchy Online following the disastrous launch, and it grew into an excellent MMO that claimed a good two years of my life, but those initial missteps cost it what might have been a truly massive following.

"Funcom is pretty aware and open about the mistakes it's made," Bylos said of the Anarchy Online launch problems. When the company launched Age of Conan in 2008, a big red line was placed on a monitor, representing the largest number of concurrent players enjoyed by its predecessor. "We passed it 20 minutes in. It was a big moment."

What Anarchy Online lacks in subscriber numbers it makes up for in player passion. The most dedicated citizens of the planet Rubi-Ka have stuck with the game for nearly 12 years. About time they got a graphics upgrade, wouldn't you say?

The promised visual update is a priority for Bylos, who told me he'd like to see it implemented this year. He'd also like to give some of the game's mechanics a tweak.

"Anarchy Online has a lot of content and things to do. its problems are 12 year-old systems and poor systems balance," said Joel.

More content for Age of Conan, less waiting

Age of Conan's problem wasn't stability — it was content. For some reason, an inordinate amount of focus was placed on the first 20 levels of the barbarian-based MMO. The Tortuga starting area was amazing, filled with fully-voiced quests and character driven stories. At one point during development there was a plan to make levels 1-20 their own single-player RPG, with the MMO part kicking in once players were finished.

"My job at Age of Conan was 20-40," Bylos told me. "I was basically told 'You've got no voiceover and less guys and you have to make it work.'"

It did not work. I played through the opening island a dozen times, but the quality and content gap was too jarring for me to continue long past level 20.

That balance has gotten much better since the game was launched, with Funcom sporadically releasing large expansion packs to give players more to do. Bylos' plan is to switch from large expansion packs to smaller content updates on a more regular basis, similar to what's being done in the latest game, The Secret World. "Think every two to three months, instead of every two to three years."

Expect to see those two games mentioned in tandem quite a lot in the coming days, as the live team works to align the tech roadmap between the two for more efficient implementation of new features.

"The idea is to entwine Age of Conan and The Secret World." The two games run on the same basic engine, so new features added to one can easily be added to the other, a benefit of having a single unified team working on the different titles. "If we bring, say, arena PVP combat to Age of Conan, we can use the same PVP from The Secret World."

Keeping The Secret World secret. Keeping it safe.

Compared to the previous two titles, The Secret World's launch went pretty smoothly, due in no small part to Bylos' experience on Age of Conan. Not wanting a repeat of that game's uneven experience, as lead content director he made sure The Secret World didn't fall into the same trap.

"With The Secret World I really pushed the guys – every area needed to be the same."

He also pushed MMO conventions, taking advantage of the game's modern-day setting to create investigation missions — a series of quests that involved looking for answers outside of the boundaries of the game world. Many of these were tough-as-nails, especially the one that featured Morse code — not written out Morse code, but an audio sample. Most modern MMOs would shy away from challenging players in such a way.

"It treats people like adults," Bylos said of The Secret World's content. "Not a lot of ridiculous hand-holding."

The launch wasn't flawless, of course. While the single-server architecture of the game held firm in the face of a massive influx of players, some of the mission scripts didn't fare so well, causing several of the game's more interesting quests to break under the strain.

And then there was the underwhelming response to the game from the MMO community.

"We were shocked when the game came out — it should have sold better." Bylos felt they'd been catering to an MMO community that something different from the normal class-based MMO, something other than elves and dwarves. Then Guild Wars 2 came out, and players flocked to a game that was, essentially, the fantasy game players seemed so tired of.

But The Secret World soldiers on. The recent move to pay-to-own, free-to-play has seen a surge in players, and Bylos plans on keeping the content coming. Regular content updates continue this month with Issue #6: The Last Train to Cairo. Bylos describes Issue #7 as "James Bond vs. Eldritch horrors," which simply sounds delicious. All of this is ramping up to the introduction of a new Tokyo adventure zone, and PVP will be getting a kick in the pants with content that takes advantage of the game's three-faction system.

But can he pull it off?

Joel Bylos has big plans for Funcom's three core MMO titles, but his overarching goal is a simple one "I want the games running strong and growing, and I want players getting their money's worth. My vision is to make them run smoothly and keep the players happy.

Considering the volatile nature of most MMO player communities, that last one might be a tall-order, but Bylos is confident in his abilities.

"I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think we could get things done."

The Secret World seemed like a promising evolution of the MMO formula when it came out this summer. But publisher Funcom has hit a series of stumbles that have left many wondering how they were going to move forward. One crucial step was revealed today with the announcement that subscriptions are no longer required.

New players will still need to pay $30 / €30 / £24.99 for the base game but will be able to access all of the content released thus far for the conspiracy-laden online title. You can still shell out monthly fee if you choose. Doing so gets you the following perks:

For those who want to get the most out of their Secret World experience we have an optional Membership available. Being a monthly subscriber, for the same cost as before, now gives great benefits. For being a member you get the following:

• Time Accelerator (Clickable item which increases experience gain for defeating monsters by 100% for 1 hour, 16 hour cool-down – only usable by Members and Grand Masters)
• $10 worth of Bonus Points (given out every month)
• Item-of-the-month gift (given out every month)
• 10% discount to everything in the in-game store

The Grandmaster pack includes all these benefits and gets an additional 10% discount to everything in the in-game store, for a total bonus of 20%. So being a Grandmaster is better than ever!

Through the month of December we have a special offer where we give 30% off on the first purchase on the 3, 6 and 12 month Membership plans.

Funcom's running a special end-of-the-world ARG right now. Maybe this new change in payment model will extend the life of The Secret World's virtual reality, too.

Halloween is still a week from today, so you'll have to wait until next Wednesday if you want to go trick-or-treating in the real world. (Or at least, if you want to do it without getting the cops called.)

But if you'd like to dash around a virtual world in costume, gathering treats and performing tricks, you're in luck. MMOs far and wide have Halloween events going on for a week or two. So if you're ready to dive into the spookier side of things, here are some places you can get your ghost and goblin fix.

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Guild Wars 2
"Shadow of the Mad King"
October 22 - November 1

"Shadow of the Mad King" follows on the heels of the annual Halloween event from the original Guild Wars. The full set of events is unfolding over four acts over the next two weeks but right now, there are Halloween-themed goodies for sale on the Black Lion Trading Company, and decorations in Lion's Arch and elsewhere.

Mysterious (totally not spooky at all, nope) portals have also begun to appear around Tyria. Where do they lead? Well, finding the Mad King at the end certainly does seem likely. Our own Kirk Hamilton wrote his impressions of a hands on experience with Guild Wars 2's seasonal fare.

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The Secret World
"The Cat God"
October 18 - November 1

The undead are kind of par for the course in The Secret World, really. A day with zombies, ghosts, and ghouls in its world isn't "Halloween," it's, "Tuesday."

The Secret World's third content update issue, then, takes players into something more than just a jaunt with run-of-the-mill eldritch horrors. It stars... the cat god. (Anyone who doesn't think a cat god can be scary has clearly never been awakened by the gleaming eyes of a fuzzy hellion at three in the morning.)

Events begin in Kingsmouth—where a previous Halloween, evil came over the sea—and end in a PvE version of Stonehenge. Where better to see what Samhain brings?

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Tera
"Masquerade Mayhem"
October 23 - November 5

Tera promises an array of tricks and treats to its denizens, starting today. Cake and candy are appearing all over the world—who can say no to sweets?

The dungeons, quests, and treat-gathering all, of course look delicious. But the highlight of Tera's Halloween festivities is no doubt going to be the Masquerade Ball and costume contest, on October 30. Players can enter in the categories of funniest, scariest, best single, and best group. (See the rules.)

If the Masquerade Ball is anything like the Halloween dances I vaguely remember from high school, a truly perplexing number of people will show up dressed as characters from Grease.

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World of Warcraft
"Hallow's End"
October 18 - 31

World of Warcraft has Hallow's End down to a science at this point. The world is transformed: every hamlet, village, town, and city seems to be celebrating. Every jack-o-lantern tempts travellers with treats.

And of course, what's Halloween without a chance to play tricks on your rivals? The Horde and Alliance are at each other's throats again, this time with stink bombs and with bonfire sabotage. Of course, since the world is populated with the sort of charitable do-gooders that will stop and perform a quest for every farmer on the continent, there are ways to make an orphan's day. With candy. Because candy is awesome.

And naturally, because WoW is WoW, there are seasonal mounts to buy. Personally, I'm a fan of that broomstick.

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Funcom, developer of modern-day MMO The Secret World, is just not having a good year.

While the game itself is quite interesting, it hasn't held the attention of players or subscribers, and poor sales led to massive layoffs, including the lead designer. Promised content updates have been repeatedly missing promised launch dates.

Making it all worse, the former CEO, who stepped down from the role the day before The Secret World's official launch, is now under investigation for insider trading.

As The Escapist reports, when Trond Aas changed position on July 2 from CEO to "strategic advisor" and chief strategy officer, he became eligible to sell his Funcom shares. He immediately tried to offload 1.5 million of them, though he only succeeded in selling 650,000.

On July 2, when Aas changed roles, Funcom stock was still worth $17.60 a share; yesterday, it reached a high of $2.17. The falloff has been dramatic. Norwegian authorities are now investigating the claims against Aas.

Perhaps insiders at Funcom knew that their MMORPG was likely to underperform, or perhaps it's a horribly unfortunate coincidence of timing. Either way, the allegations don't do The Secret World or Funcom any favors.

Former Funcom CEO Faces Insider Trading Allegations [The Escapist]

Funcom, developer of modern-day MMO The Secret World, is just not having a good year.

While the game itself is quite interesting, it hasn't held the attention of players or subscribers, and poor sales led to massive layoffs, including the lead designer. Promised content updates have been repeatedly missing promised launch dates.

Making it all worse, the former CEO, who stepped down from the role the day before The Secret World's official launch, is now under investigation for insider trading.

As The Escapist reports, when Trond Aas changed position on July 2 from CEO to "strategic advisor" and chief strategy officer, he became eligible to sell his Funcom shares. He immediately tried to offload 1.5 million of them, though he only succeeded in selling 650,000.

On July 2, when Aas changed roles, Funcom stock was still worth $17.60 a share; yesterday, it reached a high of $2.17. The falloff has been dramatic. Norwegian authorities are now investigating the claims against Aas.

Perhaps insiders at Funcom knew that their MMORPG was likely to underperform, or perhaps it's a horribly unfortunate coincidence of timing. Either way, the allegations don't do The Secret World or Funcom any favors.

Former Funcom CEO Faces Insider Trading Allegations [The Escapist]

Hey look, it's a video for the changes coming in The Secret World's Issue #2: Digging Deeper update. Plastic surgery, bazookas and an extension of "the Kingsmouth Code" investigation mission — these are things I would have been thrilled about two days ago. Now that lead designer Martin Bruusgaard has been let go, not so much.

I'd been eagerly anticipating Funcom's paranormal MMO for years when I first got a chance to play alongside Bruusgaard during a press preview event. His obvious enthusiasm and strong passion for the game drove my anticipation to greater heights. I am a big fan of passion in game developers — if I can tell they're really into what they're making, then I tend to get more into what they're making.

And now? Well I guess he's not making it anymore. Neither are a whole bunch of folks. That's unfortunate, because I really enjoyed the game Martin and friends put together.

It's no secret that The Secret World has been facing some troubled times. Developer Funcom laid off half their staff earlier this month, which would seem to make the promised monthly content updates more challenging to release on time.

However, in his August, 2012 State of the Game announcement, Ragnar Tørnquist, the game's creative director and senior producer, reassured fans that the content is still flowing, and the team is still dedicated to the project. He also took a few digs at other recent big-name MMO announcements and launches, emphasizing that The Secret World remains, in many ways, unique: "We're not going to play it safe. We won't be introducing classes or levels, elves or centaurs, and regardless of the competition, we won't back down from our original vision. We're going to keep doing what we're good at."

So what remains on deck in The Secret World? Tørnquist promised that even though Issue #2 of content updates has been delayed by two weeks, that Issue #3 is still on track to release on time. Details about Issue #3 remain scant, but it is promised to tie-in with Halloween and have cats in. As for the rest of what's on the horizon:

So what's ahead in upcoming issues? There's a ten-person raid in New York scheduled for October, and it's not like any raid you've ever played before. We have a bunch of auxiliary weapons on the way, and more character customisation improvements. We have a huge and exciting new feature pencilled in for Christmas, which ties into the achievement system and gives a lot more meaning to the usual 'Kill 1,000 Vampires' goals. (After all, who hasn't wondered what it would be like to have some vampiric abilities to play around with?) We're creating intermediary decks with brand new clothing rewards; we have a ton of new missions and storylines in development; and we have a huge new adventure zone scheduled for next spring, bringing players back to Tokyo's Ground Zero, to face brand new threats, meet new characters, play new missions and explore an intriguing urban environment unlike anything you've ever seen in an MMO.

State of The Game - August 2012 [Funcom]

Well, at the very least, this fan-made The Secret World trailer is impressive in and of itself. But this isn't the first time we've seen a fan take content from a game and create a fantastically appropriate trailer, sometimes to greater success than the game's own developers.

I'm on the fence about whether or not this one is in fact better than the official launch trailer, though. It steals some nice close-up scenes from the official trailer, but I might prefer the fan-made trailer's music. It certainly touches on a different emotion.

The Secret World - Hidden World [YouTube via Reddit]

The era of the subscription-based online game has well and truly ended in 2012.

It had a good run, really. Fifteen years is quite a long time for anything to stay static in the land of gaming.

Ultima Online introduced the idea back in 1997, when those of us who had internet access were mostly still on dial-up and got booted off of AOL whenever anyone called the house. In 1999, EverQuest came along, drawing in fans and addicts and making the idea popular. It would take another five years before World of Warcraft, launched in 2004, would take the MMORPG mainstream. When Mr. T is hawking your online game in TV commercials that even your grandparents think are kind of funny, you've hit the jackpot of cultural relevance.

World of Warcraft remains the undisputed king of the "traditional" monthly subscription MMOG, yet even its dominance is waning. Blizzard's most recently quarterly numbers put the subscriber base around the nine million mark, a significant decline from the plateau of 10-12 million they held steady at for several years.

Other games in the Western, big-budget MMO space have long since gone free-to-play. All of Sony Online Entertainment's titles, including EverQuest and its successor, EverQuest II, are now without a subscription fee. City of Heroes and Lord of the Rings Online haven't required a monthly charge in several years. DC Universe Online saw a 700% jump in revenue when it became free. And years before the others converted to free games, Guild Wars had already formed a devoted fan base without ever requiring a monthly fee.

Then of course there are the browser-based games: while generally still less well-regarded among American audiences, they boast participant figures that even World of Warcraft in its heyday could barely dream of. RuneScape, in its decade online, has gone well past the 200 million player mark.

So why, then, does the specter of a decade long gone still hover over otherwise-good games and prevent them from being successful?

Star Wars: The Old Republic, launched by BioWare at the end of last year, and The Secret World, brought online by Funcom this summer, both looked to be promising games. The former uses the setting from Knights of the Old Republic, which to this day is still lauded by its many fans. BioWare's story-driven, dialogue-driven style of play, as made popular in KOTOR as well as in the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, was an immediate draw, and SW:TOR sold well over a million copies right out of the gate.

Unfortunately, the subscribers didn't stay. By the beginning of this summer, there were fewer than a million remaining, and BioWare Austin had been hit hard by waves of layoffs. In July, EA gave the impression of caving in, and announced that the game would go free to play this November.

The Secret World, meanwhile, hoped to be an entirely different sort of game. It dispensed entirely with common tropes like leveling or set classes, and instead hoped for a more free-form experience set in a modern-day Earth. Despite provocative storytelling and regular content updates, though, Funcom has not been able to attract the required subscribers to their venture. This week, they laid off half their staff.

Every positive post or tweet about either of those games has generally been met with a wall of, "It looks interesting, but I'll wait until it's free to play."

Players, and potential players, aren't stupid. As every previous big-budget MMORPG, with the exception of World of Warcraft, has inevitably gone to a free-to-play model, they will wait on the sidelines until their new game of choice follows suit. The audience has become a self-fulfilling prophecy: unwilling to pick up a game until it has gone free-to-play, a game must then go free-to-play to gain those players. MMORPGs are also now faced with the simple fact that competition has driven down prices. As players can dabble in so many without paying a flat fee, there are other places to go.

There will not be another license to print money like World of Warcraft was. The audience is done paying up-front for the box and continuing to pay a third as much again each month thereafter for continued access. Persistent multiplayer environments are not the novelty they once were, and the subscription model now feels like the antiquated relic of a time gone by. The Secret World is certain eventually to follow in the footsteps of SW:TOR and nearly every other MMORPG before it, and go free-to-play if it wishes its audience to grow.

The games themselves are getting better, and more varied, than ever. They aren't all traditional fantasy RPGs anymore; some are shooters, and others are exploring all kinds of environments and play. But the one thing that almost all the new online games have in common is that they will not require a monthly fee.

The subscription model is dead. Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World have both suffered for trying to eke one more year of life out of it. Let us hope they are the last to try. Because the future is here, and it's free.*

* Except for that hat. And that horse. And that house...

Modern-day MMO The Secret World has a great deal going for it. The world is interesting, there are clear plans for regular content updates, and their new raid looks lovely. It even has a free trial now. But unfortunately, what it doesn't have going for it is subscribers.

Developer Funcom, based in Norway, had announced earlier this month that, due to poorer than projected sales and subscriptions, "cost-cutting measures"—read as, layoffs—would be coming. And, sadly, they have. Yesterday, rumors were floating around of up to a 50% reduction in staff. Today, Funcom confirmed that estimate, saying:

Around half of the company's personnel have been affected, with some departments being more affected than others. To make sure Funcom is in the best possible position to realize its plans for both existing games as well as future projects, the company is focusing on retaining as many as possible on the production teams.

Funcom also stressed the "temporary" nature of some, though not all, of the layoffs. Offices in Montreal, Beijing, Oslo, and Durham, NC were hit.

Funcom reduces operational costs following ‘The Secret World' launch [Funcom]